CROMAINE LIBRARY ONE OF 76 ORGANIZATIONS NATIONWIDE TO RECEIVE BIG READ GRANT FROM NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS
Cromaine Library will read and celebrate
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
during Big Read project in April/May 2012
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) announced today that 76 not-for-profit organizations have been recommended for grants totaling $1,000,050 to host a Big Read project between September 2011 and June 2012. The Big Read is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts designed to restore reading to the center of American culture. The NEA presents The Big Read in cooperation with Arts Midwest. Cromaine Library is the only location in Michigan to be awarded a Big Read grant from the NEA.
This will be the fourth Big Read grant that Cromaine Library has received from the NEA since 2007. In the spring of 2012, Cromaine Library will invite the community to read “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” by Mark Twain. Events, music, food and Tom Sawyer related events will take place in April/May 2012.
Cromaine Library will receive $9,000 for this round of The Big Read. Library Director Ceci Marlow said, “We’re confident that the support of our greater Hartland area and Livingston County community was instrumental in receiving this fourth grant. Our Friends’ leadership gifts in these years cannot happen without their dedication, membership, donations of used materials, and the community’s participation in their sales. We welcome new sponsors and in-kind participants in this event.”
NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman said, "Since 2006, nearly three million Americans have attended a Big Read event, more than 39,000 volunteers have participated locally, and nearly 27,000 community partner organizations have been involved. The Big Read's success depends on these commitments of time, energy, and enthusiasm and I look forward to seeing these 76 communities come together in celebration of a great work of literature."
Cromaine Library will receive high-quality, free-of-charge educational materials to supplement “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.” Reader's Guides include author biographies, historical context for the book, and discussion questions. Teacher's Guides are developed with the National Council of Teachers of English and State Language Arts standards in mind and include lesson plans, essay topics, and classroom handouts. The Big Read Audio Guides feature readings from the novel along with commentary from renowned artists, educators, and public figures. Cromaine will distribute these materials among the community and to educators. Marlow noted, “’The Adventures of Tom Sawyer’” is much more than a story of young boy’s halcyon days in a small town. Between its covers and in companion works such as “Adventures of Huck Finn” there is a great deal to be learned about integrity, the value of a human being, and how our choices, especially as young people, make long-term differences in our lives.”
For more information about The Big Read please visit www.neabigread.org.